OT Quote found on Web

Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world.

— Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden

http://www.skygod.com/quotes/

"Pat Carpenter" wrote in message
...
Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to
live in the real world.

- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden

http://www.skygod.com/quotes/

Oh, my gosh, did you really say or write that, Mary?
Old Chief Lynn

"Pat Carpenter" wrote in message
...
Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to
live in the real world.

- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden

http://www.skygod.com/quotes/

Oh, my gosh, did you really say or write that, Mary?
Old Chief Lynn

Pat Carpenter wrote in message
...
Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to
live in the real world.

- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden

http://www.skygod.com/quotes/


Reminds me of all the Liberal Arts majors that "tisk, tisk" when some
complex engineering goes wrong.

--
Scott
--------
Saudi Arabia is the enemy, let's stop pretending otherwise.

snip "And you asked the same question twice, several hours
apart.....it's hell when you start to lose track of your own stuff, isn't
it.
It's your ticket into the CRS Club, if you're not already a member."snip
George Z.

OK, I admit to losing track of a lot of my own stuff, but this iteration is
a little different. Something helped me here! I had been in bed, asleep,
with the computer "off" for two hours at the time of the second posting!
AND, while I clearly see both of the posts on r.a.m. this morning, my
"Outhouse Express" "sent items" file only shows the first one. Virus?
Hacker? hyperactive news server? I noticed a couple of duplicate postings
(and one triple) on a.b.p.a. this morning too. All the duplicates I've
noticed (including mine) were sent at 1:37am this morning.

Does one need a ticket to join the CRS club? grin

Old Chief Lynn

"Lynn Coffelt" wrote in message
news:jayRa.72902$OZ2.13436@rwcrnsc54...

snip "And you asked the same question twice, several hours
apart.....it's hell when you start to lose track of your own stuff, isn't
it.
It's your ticket into the CRS Club, if you're not already a member."snip
George Z.

OK, I admit to losing track of a lot of my own stuff, but this iteration is
a little different. Something helped me here! I had been in bed, asleep,
with the computer "off" for two hours at the time of the second posting!
AND, while I clearly see both of the posts on r.a.m. this morning, my
"Outhouse Express" "sent items" file only shows the first one. Virus?
Hacker? hyperactive news server? I noticed a couple of duplicate postings
(and one triple) on a.b.p.a. this morning too. All the duplicates I've
noticed (including mine) were sent at 1:37am this morning.

Maybe it was caused by the 1:37 computer hiccup virus.

Does one need a ticket to join the CRS club? grin

Nah....there's always room for one more charter member! (^-^)))

George Z.

Dudley, as the years pass, I've become more and more Presbyterian in my outlook
on life and death. There very well may be a Good Book somewhere up there with
everybody's name inscribed, along with an arrival date and a departure date, and
it doesn't matter what the person does or doesn't do, when the departure date
arrives, he's outta' here.

I've flown with guys who could've flown the pants off me, and twice on Sundays,
who are no longer with us, as well as far less competent twits than I who are
still around apparently tempting fate with every twitch and never quite meeting
up with it. I'm sure you know zillions of people, especially in the latter
group, who always make you wonder how they get by. I know I do.

All of which is not to say that doing your best doesn't matter. And, re-reading
your comments, I don't think that my slant, while perhaps capricious, are in
conflict with your views on the subject.

George Z.

Dudley Henriques wrote:
"Gooneybird" wrote in message
...

One of my pet commentaries more or less
along the same lines is "If you don't want to screw up on your job, don't get
out of bed in the morning."

George Z.

Sounds good, but might not always be the case. There are jobs in this world,
(I had one of them for many years, and I might add, I'm still here to write
about it :-) that absolutely demanded perfection each and every instant the
job was being done in real time; it was a job where there was absolutely no
margin for the slightest error; where any error at all would have caused
instant death.
No biggie really, but nonetheless, there are jobs like that out there, and
people who have done these jobs on a protracted basis through time and
survived.
Cliché's are nice. Reality however, will either kill you or you'll survive,
depending on your ability to maintain what is needed on an ongoing basis and
how you deal with it in real time......EVERY TIME!!!! :-)
I would add, that there's a price that must be paid over time if one is
engaged in such work. I've found the price to be cumulative. The trick is
knowing when the price has reached the point where just one more exposure to
the job will cross the safety line. If you quit at or before that point, you
survive. If not, you're history!
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/CFI
Retired

"Gooneybird" wrote in message
...
Dudley, as the years pass, I've become more and more Presbyterian in my
outlook
on life and death. There very well may be a Good Book somewhere up there
with
everybody's name inscribed, along with an arrival date and a departure
date, and
it doesn't matter what the person does or doesn't do, when the departure
date
arrives, he's outta' here.

I've flown with guys who could've flown the pants off me, and twice on
Sundays,
who are no longer with us, as well as far less competent twits than I who
are
still around apparently tempting fate with every twitch and never quite
meeting
up with it. I'm sure you know zillions of people, especially in the
latter
group, who always make you wonder how they get by. I know I do.

All of which is not to say that doing your best doesn't matter. And,
re-reading
your comments, I don't think that my slant, while perhaps capricious, are
in
conflict with your views on the subject.

Hi Goony,

No, not in conflict; more a difference in outlook I think. In my business, I
couldn't afford the luxury of accepting the fact that at any moment, my
"luck" might run out. Nor could I afford the "fate will decide" philosophy
either. None of us that I knew then and know now think this way. Our type of
flying was in many ways different than anything you can imagine, if you fly
airplanes for pleasure and enjoyment. It's a whole different world, and even
I have trouble explaining it to people who have not been directly involved
with it.
Basically, to survive longer than a few days, one literally has to become
the antithesis of what you are saying. If you go into the low altitude acro
business with a "fate will decide" attitude, believe me, you will be dead in
short order.
The name of the game is to defy what you are describing as "fate" by
constantly striving to perform above the level where "fate" is a factor.
Fate is for people who believe in fate. It goes far deeper than a simple,
"God will decide" In our business, fate is often simply a word to describe a
mistake made that shouldn't have been made. You don't make mistakes like
this very long in low altitude acro and live.
It's all true about the things you said pertaining to bad pilots outliving
good ones. Happens all the time......just not very often in the low altitude
acro business :-))
Most of us doing this work believe in God. We also believe that God gave us
the brains, desire, and intelligence to, for the most part control our own
"fate" by using the tools he gave us wisely. We honestly believe that if we
do this, God allows the odds to be cut in our favor.
"Fate" is a fairly intangible thing you know. Let's just say that in the
acro business, "fate" hangs very much in the favor of the pilot who has
honed his performance to a razor edge and is willing to pay the price in
work, toil, and sweat, to keep that edge razor sharp.
Yes, pilots like this do die once in a while, and no one ever REALLY reaches
that perfect mark of excellence. I know in my career I personally have made
several mistakes that could have killed me but for some reason didn't. Fate
perhaps? :-)
For those of us who still get together and discuss these things once in
awhile, (mostly after a few cold ones I might add :-))) I've found that the
ultimate mark of respect we both give and receive among ourselves in private
can be directly equated to the amount of times each of us has "met the
Tiger" and lived to do it again. If you were to summarize how we who have
done this feel about it now, I would have to say that there might be a few
who believe that Fate had a hand in it all. Mostly though, I think the
majority of us believe that whatever fate is, and however fate can be
defined, it's possible to nullify the onset of fate through superior
performance. For those of us who believe in a supreme being, that also means
that God smiles on pilots who are razor sharp and stay that way, and doesn't
take kindly to those who don't.........fate perhaps?????? :-)
All the best
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/CFI
Retired

On Thu, 17 Jul 2003 05:10:03 GMT, "Lynn Coffelt"
wrote:


"Pat Carpenter" wrote in message
...
Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to
live in the real world.

- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden

http://www.skygod.com/quotes/

Oh, my gosh, did you really say or write that, Mary?

I sure did. I meant it, too. I still do.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

"A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."
Anonymous US fighter pilot

Mary Shafer wrote:
On Thu, 17 Jul 2003 05:10:03 GMT, "Lynn Coffelt"
wrote:


"Pat Carpenter" wrote in message
. ..

Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to

live in the real world.

- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden

http://www.skygod.com/quotes/

Oh, my gosh, did you really say or write that, Mary?


I sure did. I meant it, too. I still do.

Mary

Me too Mary. I've been a safety professional for more than 30 years and
still believe that way.

George